Television is rather a frightening business. But I get all the relaxation I want from my collection of model soldiers.
Peter Cushing

Saturday, 25 January 2020

Shepherd of the Forest



This is a rather special Ent. After building the plastic kit I had a head and a couple of right hands left. That's obviously the basis of another Ent but how to make the rest of it?



Basically, every time we went for a walk over the year, I collected some sticks. Always deadfalls - after all, Treebeard would not approve of me cutting  healthy trees down. 

Walks in Yorkshire, Wales, the highlands of Scotland - every part of  the countryside of mainland Britain contributed some elements. 



Then it was a matter of construction. Some drilling and pinning and a lot of Gorilla Gel.



I added a couple of branches from Dryads to break up the outline.

Almost by accident it appears that I made an Ent with attitude. Just looking at him you can hear the Beegees.




I then fastened him to the base and green stuffed the root structure round the feet.


I painted him using the one of the greatest strengths of contrast paints, I think - the ability to easily blend them to get natural colours. 



The leaves were painted in the traditional way and then I added some foliage from my stash.  



And so here is the current army of Fangorn Forest. 



Very happy with this one and obviously it has a lot of sentimental meaning to the family as it represents our travels in the countryside - something I think Professor Tolkien would have approved of. 

7 comments:

  1. Lovely work and so special in light of how he was foraged on your walks.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks. The whole family loves him because of that.

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  2. Nicely done! Formed models are great, but the ones you make yourself are *always* better!

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  3. There are no words in Elvish, Entish or the tongues of Men to describe how much I like this!

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  4. What Suber said ... although Gollum would throw the ring away and make these minis his new precious!

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